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C.W. Nevius, columnist with the San Francisco Chronicle. Photographed in San Francisco on 8/3/06.
(Deanne Fitzmaurice/ The Chronicle)

Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice, The Chronicle

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C.W. Nevius, columnist with the San Francisco...

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Robin Kwok shows off the cleaners he used to clean the dried gum off the sidewalk outside his toy shop at 840 Clement Street in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 16, 2009. Kwok and other Clement Street merchants were given notice by the department of public works to clean their sidewalks or face a fine.

Tuesday was when a Department of Public Works inspector posted a warning that some Richmond District merchants had a "gummy sidewalk." Turns out that's a violation of the Municipal Public Works code, section 174. Business owners were given seven days to clean up the gum or face a $300 fine.

That doesn't sound too bad - until you see how difficult it is to get this ancient gum off the concrete.

What we have here is a city agency making a demand that is not only unfair and extremely difficult, but dangerous. Shop owners have been on their hands and knees on the sidewalk, using chisels, wire brushes and powerful chemical solvents that make their eyes water. One shop was pouring bleach, straight from the bottle, on the sidewalk and letting it drain away into gutter.

I'd rather put up with the gum spots.

"Keeping the street clean makes sense," said Seong Tan, who has run Singapore Malaysian restaurant for nearly 20 years. "But this cleanup is so hard, it doesn't make sense."

It all started, as so many bad ideas do, with the best of intentions.

"The city has tried to put a greater focus on the commercial corridors," said Public Works Director Ed Reiskin. "We are devoting a lot of resources to keeping these corridors clean."

So far, so good. Clement is a bustling, high-traffic area, and nobody wants to step in a messy wad of gum. Before you assume the merchants are whining, you need to see what they are dealing with.

This isn't gum. These are fossilized mastications from a long-lost age. What once was a chewy treat has been mashed down and cured until it is no more than a rock-hard black smudge. You'd need a Dubble Bubble jackhammer to budge this gunk.

Skin-blistering chemicals

Not that they haven't tried. Law and another employee bought chemicals at the hardware store, pulled on rubber gloves, and got down on their hands and knees to attack the spots. Soon, she felt a twinge on the inside of her wrist. She pulled off her glove to see that the skin had blistered from the chemical.

After I contacted the department, a spokesperson said members of the agency would be going out to revisit the area to do some outreach and education about what is expected.

Better take a flak jacket. These people are really miffed.

As Law said, "Chinese people are usually quiet and don't speak out. But we are really upset."

It is hard to blame them.

Paul Louie, who owns Coriya Hot Pot, has the misfortune to be on the corner. So he not only had to clean the sidewalk facing Clement, he had to work his way around the corner and down 10th Avenue.

"Me, my wife, and an employee were out here for four hours," he said. "We used a chemical and a chisel. And I'm still not sure we won't get a fine."

That's the real capper. After all their efforts - the sidewalk in front of Robin Kwok's action figure store is still littered with steel bristles from a wire brush he used - the gum spots are still there.

In fact, they're everywhere up and down Clement Street. The sidewalk is dotted with black spots all the way down to Arguello Avenue. Cosmetically they don't look great, but most pedestrians probably walk over them without a thought.

Law said most of the gum-littering happens at night, especially on the weekends, when folks are out visiting restaurants, bars and clubs. The merchants show up on Monday morning and there's gum on the sidewalk.

Fresh globs not bad

The relatively fresh gooey globs aren't much of a problem. Most of the merchants sweep or wash their storefronts regularly. I don't think they'd mind scraping off some fresh gum, too.

But this old stuff, from the pre-Wrigley era, is too tough to clean up. Now, if the city came up with a sure-fire, low-risk way to whisk away the long-term gum spots and cleared the sidewalks once, the merchants would be ready and willing to do the upkeep from there.

What public works really needs to do is realize it is being unreasonable.

The spots aren't a big deal. In fact, Law at Supertime Travel would prefer the city worry more about the homeless guy who sleeps in front of her store and dumps spoiled food in the doorway.